Col 2 | ISV | STEP | For I want you to know how much I struggle for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have never seen me face to face.

Colossians 2

1 For I want you to know how much I struggle for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have never seen me face to face. ^{▼▼Lit. my face in the flesh}Phil 1:30; Col 1:29; 1Thes 2:2 2 Because they are united in love, I pray ^{▼▼The Gk. lacks I pray} that their hearts may be encouraged by all the riches that come from a complete understanding of the full knowledge of Christ, who is the secret of God.2Cor 1:6; Phil 3:8; Col 1:9; 3:14 3 In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.1Cor 1:24; 2:6-7; Eph 1:8; Col 1:9 4 I say this so that no one will mislead you with nice-sounding rhetoric.Rom 16:18; 2Cor 11:13; Eph 4:14; 5:6; Col 2:8, 18 5 For although I am absent in body, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how stable you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.1Cor 5:3; 14:40; 1Thes 2:17; 1Pet 5:9

6 Fullness of LifeSo then, just as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live in him.1Thes 4:1; Jude 1:3 7 For you have been rooted in him and are being built up and strengthened in the faith, just as you were taught, while you overflow with thanksgiving.Eph 2:21-22; 3:17; Col 1:23

8 See to it that no one enslaves you through philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the basic principles of the world, ^{▼▼Or the elemental spirits of the universe} and not according to Christ.Jer 29:8; Matt 15:2; Rom 16:17; Gal 1:14; Eph 5:6; Col 1:22; 2:18; 20; Heb 13:9 9 For in him the whole fullness of God lives in bodily form.John 1:14; Col 1:19 10 And you have been brought to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.John 1:16; Eph 1:20-21; Col 1:16; 1Pet 3:22 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision performed without human ^{▼▼The Gk. lacks human} hands by stripping off the corrupt nature in the circumcision performed by Christ.Deut 10:16; 30:6; Jer 4:4; Rom 2:29; 6:6; Eph 4:22; Phil 3:3; Col 3:8-9 12 When you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.Acts 2:24; Rom 6:4; Eph 1:19; 3:7; Col 3:1 13 Even when you were dead because of your offenses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God ^{▼▼Lit. he} made you alive with him when he forgave us all of our offenses,Eph 2:1, 5-6, 11 14 having erased the charges that were brought against us with their decrees that were hostile to us. He took those charges away when he nailed them to the cross.Eph 2:15-16 15 And when he had disarmed the rulers and the authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross. ^{▼▼Lit. in it}Gen 3:15; Ps 68:18; Isa 53:12; Matt 12:29; Luke 10:18; 11:22; John 12:31; 16:11; Eph 4:8; 6:12; Heb 2:14

16 Therefore, let no one judge you in matters of food and drink or with respect to a festival, a new moon, or a Sabbath day.Rom 14:2-3, 5, 10, 13, 17; 1Cor 8:8; Gal 4:10 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality ^{▼▼Or substance} belongs to Christ.Heb 8:5; 9:9; 10:1 18 Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels cheat you out of the prize by boasting about what he has seen. ^{▼▼Other mss. read what he has not seen} Such a person is puffed up without cause by his carnal mind.Ezek 13:3; Col 2:4; 1Tim 1:7 19 He does not hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, which is nourished and held together by its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that comes from God.Eph 4:15-16

20 The New Life in ChristIf you have died with Christ to the basic principles of the world, ^{▼▼Or the elemental spirits of the universe} why are you submitting to its decrees as though you still lived in the world?Rom 6:3, 5; Gal 2:19; Eph 2:15; Col 2:8 21 “Don't handle this! Don't taste or touch that!”1Tim 4:3 22 All of these things will be destroyed through use because they are based on human commands and teachings.Isa 29:13; Matt 15:9; Titus 1:14 23 These things have the appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion, humility, and harsh treatment of the body, but they have no value against self-indulgence.Col 4:8; 1Tim 4:8